South Bay Chef Gets Violent Threats Over Foie Gras Donuts

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) — When the owner of Psycho Donuts in San Jose and Campbell decided to give away foie gras donuts in honor of National Donut Day for free, he didn’t expect to get threats of violence in return.

That’s exactly what happened to Chef Ron Levi who said the giveaway was a ruse to get around the California ban on selling the French pate made from the over-enlarged livers of force-fed ducks.

“I just thought it would be fun,” said Levi.

The donuts are filled with foie gras and topped with crispy sage and a honey, fig, balsamic vinegar reduction.

Reaction to the doughy concoctions began with mildly disgusted comments from Facebook users and soon escalated into full-blown violent threats on animal rights activist websites.

Right now, Levi is keeping the donuts at a secret location, but he insists his foie ‘bombs’ are delicious.

As for the threats? Levi said he survived a lashing from mental health activists for naming his restaurant ‘Psycho Donuts.’ The controversy over the foie donuts has proven to be great PR.

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Kiet Do is a general assignment reporter and joined KPIX 5 in January 2008, and is proud to be back home covering the South Bay for the 10pm and 11pm newscasts.Before joining KPIX 5, the San Jose native was a reporter for WAGA-TV in Atlanta. While at...